FTFA: Richard Coes, a spokesman for the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

The weapons include assault rifles that Coes described as "AK-style."

So, not reporter, also, it's better than the usual reporter saying that they were AK-47 School-Seeking Baby-Killers. AK style is actually a really legit description. I doubt anyone outside of collectors and enthusiasts would have understood what they were if he'd called them by their actual model name. The average reader isn't going to know what a WASR10, M76, SA M7, PSL-54c, Romak III, M70, M90, Type 56, or even the Vz58 is. (No, the Vz58 is not actually an AK platform but looks like it)

So, I think the description is pretty appropriate in this case.

Now, this just pisses me off as it's going to increase the cost to me at one of the various wholesalers I use.....

stevarooni:tallen702: The weapons include assault rifles that Coes described as "AK-style."

So, I think the description is pretty appropriate in this case.

Now, this just pisses me off as it's going to increase the cost to me at one of the various wholesalers I use.....

You buy actual assault rifles through wholesalers? I'd have thought that pre-1986 select-fire rifles would be dang expensive no matter what else.

No where does TFA say select fire. And yes, I buy wholesale. With $10 xfers, who wouldn't? Brick and mortar gun stires are a scam. All you need is an 01 FFL, or know an 01FFL who will xfer for cheap. And since I have an 03, I see the prices for myself.

It says "assault rifle", which is a specific technical term that, basically, means a medium-caliber weapon capable of switching to fully automatic fire. The M-16 is an assault rifle, as is an (real) AK-47/AK-74. I'm assuming that the author isn't using words speciously, so they weren't "assault weapons", which is an arbitrary term defined solely in legislation, such as the expired federal "Assault Weapons Ban", and California's existing "Assault Weapons Ban".

special20:I'll give ya 30 dollars each. Look, it's the best I can do because they'll just sit on my shelves, taking up space. Take it or leave it.[i.imgur.com image 225x225]/hot like a bald head in studio lights

What is the origin of the term "assault rifle" and what does it mean now? I'm guessing it has something to do with the number of bullets it can fire in a given length of time, thus making it useful for "assaulting" a position.To my English-major mind, it almost implies there a "defense rifle" out there someplace.

I'm not sure of the etymology of the term. But in current parlance, an assault rifle is merely one with select-fire capability (meaning that it may fire multiple bullets for a single trigger pull) and is in a medium caliber (as opposed to full machine guns, in large calibers). Assault rifles are fairly common in most nations' armies. Your suggestion that they're useful for "assaulting" a position isn't outrageous, but bolt-action and muzzle-loading rifles were used for assaulting positions before the availability of even semi-auto guns.

Huck And Molly Ziegler:To my English-major mind, it almost implies there a "defense rifle" out there someplace.

Heh. So it would imply, yes. But I'm not familiar with that term being used.

What is the origin of the term "assault rifle" and what does it mean now? I'm guessing it has something to do with the number of bullets it can fire in a given length of time, thus making it useful for "assaulting" a position.To my English-major mind, it almost implies there a "defense rifle" out there someplace.

Thank you.

"Assault rifle" - a select fire weapon chambered in an intermediate cartridge, with a detachable (large volume) magazine. It is termed "assault rifle", because it is designed for warfare that is based on fixing and maneuvering as opposed to trench warfare.

In all practical sense, they are no more or less deadly than non-assault sports rifles.

Yogimus:In all practical sense, they are no more or less deadly than non-assault sports rifles.

I'd argue that the vast majority are actually less deadly than their predecessors. I know what 7.62x39 and 5.56 will do to a quarter-inch steel plate at 100 yards (hint, not much) and I also know what 7.62x54r and 8x56r and 8mm Mauser will do at that range (hint, rhymes with 'large gaping moles')

Given that most ballistic armor is made to stop intermediate cartridges, full-sized rounds will punch through rather easily.

So, Feinstein et-al will gladly take away your AR, but that SVT-40 you have? Or that CA legal PSL-54c? Why, go right ahead!

What is the origin of the term "assault rifle" and what does it mean now? I'm guessing it has something to do with the number of bullets it can fire in a given length of time, thus making it useful for "assaulting" a position.To my English-major mind, it almost implies there a "defense rifle" out there someplace.

Thank you.

"Assault rifle" - a select fire weapon chambered in an intermediate cartridge, with a detachable (large volume) magazine. It is termed "assault rifle", because it is designed for warfare that is based on fixing and maneuvering as opposed to trench warfare.

In all practical sense, they are no more or less deadly than non-assault sports rifles.

Assault rifle comes from the German SturmGewehr which was the term Hitler assigned to the intermediate cartridge MP44/stg44. Basically the German army studied the fighting from the blitkieg and determined that the average fighting was done at 2-300m, too far for submachinegun rounds to be effective but still not far enough to justify the weight of a full rifle round and weapon platform so they developed an intermediate class weapon which is the basis for the bulk of modern military personel weapons.

jaytkay: You walk into a rail yard, with all those thousands of identical freight cars.

Gee, what a lucky criminal to find the one with all the rifles!

My first thought too. Inside job.

They'll find the insider pretty quickly. After a certain level, the cargo gets listed as "Mixed Freight" or "MX FRT" (which I used to assume meant "Mixed Fruit") on the Consist. It will probably be someone in Customer Service who talked to the shipper.

The night I got laid off from Union pacific, I was in the break room talking to a Railroad Cop just before the shift started. They have some great stories by the way. He was telling me about the time he was working an intermodal yard in LA. The containers back right up to the fence and it was pretty common for someone to break in to a container or two. Usually they would find nothing of stealable value but one night, they found VCRs. Okay. This was back when VCRs were actually valuable.

The cop said there was a stream of people coming in from the local area and they were people throwing VCRs from the container in to the crowd. All the cops could do was grab a VCR from someone. The cop said he went around the corner and here was a little old lady with a walker balancing a VCR across it.

The cop then looked at my name on the ID badge and left. I then went in to the pre-shift meeting, got told to hang back and the railroad cop came back in and escorted me to the street.

Huck And Molly Ziegler: "What is the origin of the term "assault rifle" and what does it mean now? I'm guessing it has something to do with the number of bullets it can fire in a given length of time, thus making it useful for "assaulting" a position..."robodog :Assault rifle comes from the German SturmGewehr which was the term Hitler assigned to the intermediate cartridge MP44/stg44...

That's what I came here to say.Also a literal translation of sturm gewehr is "storm rifle", as in to storm or assault a position. As we also use storm in the same way in English we could also use the term storm rifle... maybe? It sounds even cooler and, were it something civilians could buy, no doubt some gun company would trademark the term.Although I suppose accurately it should be storming rifle.